Musician and politician Kwame Asare Obeng known widely as A Plus has appealed to Ghanaians to help the fight corruption by requesting information they desire from state institutions as their support for the current President’s quest to run a transparent administration through his signing the Right to Information (RTI) bill into the RTI Law.
The President signed the RTI bill into law on Tuesday, May 21, 2019, at a short ceremony at the Jubilee House after he had received it a day before.
However, the law became operational only last month, January 2020, meaning that citizens can request information from public institutions except information expressly barred by the law.
A Plus has therefore advised Ghanaians to be citizens and request information: “The president, HE Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is not a magician. He does not have juju to see everything everywhere. That’s why after asking us to be citizens and not spectators, he went ahead to sign the right to information act.
Every citizen must support the president and future presidents by requesting information from the public sector and the public sector must equally provide such information as swiftly as possible if we really mean to operate a transparent system that will help us win the fight against corruption in Ghana.
This country must prosper. Don’t sit unconcerned. If you want clarity on anything, write to the sector involved personally or through your lawyers to furnish you with the necessary information. It is your right as a citizen of Ghana to do so,” he advised on Facebook.
A Plus is among the first persons to test the law after he requested procurement information on some 307 ambulances recently acquired by the Ministry of Special Development Initiatives.
The first to test the law was Member of Parliament(MP) for Ashaiman Ernest Norgbey who requested procurement information on the Electoral Commission’s (EC’s) selection of vendors for the upcoming voter registration exercise. He was however advised by Electoral Commission to go to court.
The Right to Information Law gives citizens the right to request information they desire from the public sector.
